The next morning, the sky was still a soft orange and lilac when a luxurious black car with chrome trim pulled up smoothly in front of a modest but charming home on the outskirts of Seattle.
Four people got out of the vehicle: three beautiful, elegant, well-dressed women, with confidence evident in their walk, and a tall, dark-haired man, who discreetly held a tablet and acted as driver and security guard.
One of the women, a blonde with gray eyes and a professional smile, knocked softly on the door of the house.
Seconds later, the door opened and revealed the young woman from the previous night's live where Luna gave donations for singing a K-pop song, Elena.
Elena was still wearing a loose sweatshirt and looked surprised, frowning warily.
"Miss Elena?" the woman asked formally, displaying a holographic badge with the Diamante Tycoon logo shining. "We are representatives of Diamante Tycoon. We come with a professional proposal, if you have a moment."
"Diamond... Tycoon?" Elena repeated, looking at the group in confusion. "The billion-dollar LUX mask company?"
"Exactly," replied the other woman, a brunette with short hair, holding out a tablet to display a contract in preview mode. "Last night, someone from the board watched your livestream. They were impressed by your voice. And your ease in front of the camera. We'd like to invite you to be the face and voice of the next international LUX face mask campaign."
Elena blinked, processing the sentence with difficulty. Her expression shifted between surprise and suspicion. "Is this a prank? I'm not even famous. I'm not even a singer. I just... sing in my free time."
The third woman, with copper skin and braided hair, laughed sympathetically. "Exactly. That's why. Your authenticity charmed our supervisor. We're not looking for Hollywood stars, but someone who represents real, natural beauty. The song you sang yesterday? It was perfect. We want you for our global commercial. Thirty seconds of recording, plus a few photos for the official poster."
"Thirty seconds?" Elena murmured. "That seems a bit long for someone... anonymous."
The driver approached with a new tablet and handed it to her.
On the screen, the number jumped out at me: Payment: $500,000,000 gross, with the possibility of additional royalties.
Elena's expression froze. "Is... is this right? I'm sorry, but I'm a consultant for a global company. I make one hundred and twenty thousand a month, and that already puts me at the top. Are you saying you're going to pay me half a billion for thirty seconds?"
"You can take the proposal to your lawyer," the blonde replied with a serene smile. "Tycoon is an international company registered with commercial empires and audited by courts. Everything here is legal and transparent, and your contract includes security guarantees, image consultancy, voice rights, and data protection."
"Why me?" Elena asked, still stunned.
The woman with braided hair leaned in a little closer. "Because you're... real. And in this world so full of filters, plastic, and pre-production, someone real has become a rare luxury."
Elena looked at the number again.
Then to the three women, who remained impeccable and calm.
Then to the man, who just nodded with a professional gesture.
She swallowed, still unsure if she was living or dreaming. "I... can I think for a day?"
"Of course," the blonde replied. "But we're letting you know that the ad will be recorded in two weeks. We're willing to wait for your response until tomorrow night. Here's our contact information."
She handed over a virtual card with an activated smart chip.
Elena took it with trembling hands.
The women said goodbye cordially and returned to the car with the same elegance with which they arrived.
Slowly closing the door, Elena leaned against the wood, still holding the tablet and card.
"500 million..." he muttered. "This can't be real..."
She walked over to the sofa and sat down, as if she needed fresh oxygen.
On the other side of the US, Luna smiled as she discreetly watched through the camera on the team's tablet.
"Let's see if she accepts the modern Cinderella invitation," he murmured, resting his chin on his hand with an amused glint in his eyes.
-Japan-
In the heart of Tokyo, under the soft lighting of floating screens and the silent presence of servers, Nikoly was in heaven.
Sitting in her custom ergonomic gaming chair equipped with posture sensors, lumbar massagers, and, of course, a holder for her sparkling pink beer can, she typed at a speed that would make any keyboard player weep.
The lines of code slid across the screen like mechanical poetry.
The project? A mobile game titled "Mystic: The Crown," an arena MOBA featuring characters inspired by Japanese mythology—oni, kitsunes, samurai, forgotten gods, and even historical figures reimagined as epic champions.
Nikoly wanted to bring a little of the soul of ancient Japan.
And the curious detail? The game wouldn't be holographic. Yet.
"Shit, holographic would be great, but even my genius can't handle it yet…" she muttered, biting the edge of her nail.
While holographic technology has become commonplace in the last five years, creating an entire game within that reality was like trying to program inside a tornado—with boxing gloves.
The physics of the environments, the synchronization of the avatars, the projection of directional sound in 3D... everything was chaos even without a tutorial.
But that didn't stop her from trying.
Nikoly was deep in code when ÆVA appeared in a discreet hologram in the corner of the room.
"Nikoly-sama," ÆVA said in her velvety, serene voice, "Tycoon's security system is under attack again. Intruders detected on three main server nodes."
Nikoly didn't even look. He raised an eyebrow and continued typing.
"Again? Oh, the True Beauty people are really bored, aren't they?" he grumbled, a wry smile on his lips.
"Standard containment procedures?" asked ÆVA.
"Ignore it. Seriously. This has become a morning routine. Do they think they'll be able to hack anything with these ridiculous attacks? Spare my logs."
Nikoly paused and snapped his fingers. "If they try anything serious, activate the Protocol, but for now... let them think they're doing something useful. They must be using an intern in their IT department."
"Understood. Counterattack protocols suspended. Only passive blocking maintained."
Nikoly stretched, her eyes returning to the game code. "Now… where did I leave off? Oh, yeah. The 'Yamabushi of the Mist' passive is dealing 40% more damage in the wrong place. Damn collision script…"
While his brilliant mind focused on the digital universe of his game, outside the world was spinning, but for Nikoly, all that mattered at the moment was adjusting the particles of the ultimate ability of a character based on Raijin, god of thunder.
Between the chaos of the real world and the increasingly pathetic digital attacks, she preferred her pixelated universe, where everything made sense and anyone who made a mistake… exploded in a flash of lightning and code.
The project interface opens on floating holographic monitors, each showing different parts of the game: characters, mechanics, HUD, skill animations, and real-time balance tests.
Nikoly was testing a new champion... "Scarlet Amaterasu", a long-range mage with solar purification powers.
Your look? Amazing.
His passive? It burned the enemy's soul with increasing slowness.
But there was still… something missing.
She frowned. "Ugh… it's pretty, but soulless. It lacks the seasoning of a gamer."
Then she stopped.
He closed his eyes.
A name flashed through his mind like an inevitable pop-up: Luna.
The damn MOBA addict who played "League of Legends".
"If anyone knows what makes a MOBA addictive… it's her."
With a snap of his fingers, Nikoly pulled up one of the floating monitors and opened the private chat.
Typed:
@Nikoly: "Hey, lunatic. I'm developing a mobile MOBA. The project name is Mystic: The Crown. It has characters from Japanese mythology, stylish abilities, and maybe a yin-yang map.
What do you think a mobile MOBA needs to be truly good?
No bullshit, just go for it. And don't come at me with that pay-to-win skin or I'll ban you from the build, okay?"
On the other side of the screen, she could already see Luna's three typing dots appearing.
The answer came quickly.
@CheiroDeTerraPósChuva: "Needs fast lanes. Short matches. But with smart map mechanics.
It makes minions more relevant, gives a gold buff on support kills, and puts an honor duel system in the middle of the map every 3 minutes.
And... put a champion based on me. Golden hair, high heels, and who explodes everything with psychic power.
Her name? Lunaris of Annihilation.
Kisses."
Nikoly laughed. "That girl..."
She copied the message and pasted it into a notes tab called "realistic inspiration, playable madness," which was already almost full of crazy ideas.
But the idea of a Duel of Honor in the middle of the map? Brilliant.
Symbolic competition for status and bonus gold in 1v1? Pure genius.
With flying fingers, she implemented an initial sketch of the mechanics.
The system illuminated a sacred circle in the center of the map every three minutes. One player from each team could register, and the duel would be broadcast to the others via a special camera.
"It's going to become a craze among streamers, imagine the bets..."
What's more, she added a placeholder for the character Lunaris of Annihilation, with a draft of an ultimate ability called "Lunar Psychic Ruin," which blasted the area with destructive mental fragments.
Nikoly cracked his neck, took a sip of his pink beer, and muttered with a mischievous grin, "A monster is being born."
Little by little, as he typed furiously, adding new lines of code inspired by Luna's suggestions, the system's characteristic boot sound echoed through the lab.
A soft glow filled the room, and ÆVA's holographic silhouette appeared beside the center console, her voice calm.
"Nikoly-sama, the surveillance and infiltration system on True Beauty's servers has intercepted an unencrypted message on a low-level internal channel."
Nikoly arched an eyebrow as he took another sip of his pink beer.
"These amateurs... leaking attack plans on a side channel?"
She swiveled her chair slightly and pointed her finger. "Hit the screen, ÆVA."
With a gesture from the AI, a new holographic monitor opened, displaying the transcript of the captured message:
[Internal Channel – Cyber Sector | True Beauty]
"Direct order from Superiors: Intensify attacks. Top priority on destabilizing Tycoon's system.
Primary target: paralyze the main server.
Secondary target: stop pre-sales of the LUX mask at any cost.
Use of all available resources is authorized.
...
Operation Obsidian underway."
Nikoly snorted, propping his feet up on the console. "Ahhh, so they decided to make the joke official…"
She twirled the beer bottle in her hand thoughtfully. "Operation Obsidian? That sounds like the name of a bad soap opera or a '90s anime attack."
ÆVA blinked softly. "Should we track down the individual operators of this cell and send ghost digital bounties to the hunter profiles in the Dark Cosmos?"
Nikoly snapped her fingers, as if excited for a show. "Not yet. Let's play some more."
She rose from her chair, stretching her arms as she watched the Tycoon system's firewall codes flash on the monitors.
"I want to see if these idiots can even break through the first layer before I unleash the cyber demon I left sleeping on the server."
Then he looked at ÆVA with a small smile. "But just in case, I've distributed the backup servers in separate clusters around the world. If they try to take down the main site, they'll just wake up a bunch of log-hungry clones."
ÆVA nodded. "Understood. Secondary systems are now synchronized and ready for phantom retaliation."
Nikoly swiveled his chair back to the screen, finalizing a new defense code. "If they want a bit war, let's give a symphonic concert of digital humiliation. But… with style."
She pulled out her cell phone and typed to the group:
@ Nikoly: "we intercepted a plan by True Beauty to try to sabotage LUX.
You can continue marketing and pre-sales with peace of mind.
I'm here.
And I'm angry."
Seconds later, Luna responded with rocket emojis and a simple:
@CheiroDeTerraPósChuva: "Roll them up, Empress"
And then, Nikoly smiled.
One of those smiles that always announced the birth of a new technological revenge.